As childcare providers, we are great at making sure that the children we are tasked with taking care of are warm, dry, fed and are safe. Do you have a plan as the provider if you have a medical emergency? How is your health? Do you take medication for a known medical condition? What happens to the children if you experience an illness or worse?
The best thing you can do right now is to start planning for this. Do you have someone you can call if you become ill? Do you have a network that checks in on you at regular intervals? What is your plan, and do you know how to create one or do you need help? Some ideas for you to consider are spelled out below.
Where is your “go bag” and what is in it? This bag should contain a roster of the children, parent/guardian contact details, a picture of the child with their parents so that other people, including first responders, know which child belongs to which parent. Names of other family/friends that are authorized to pick up the child. You can add any other information you prefer as well. This should also include information about yourself, and the bag should be placed by an exit door in case of an emergency.
Calling 911 should be talked about with the children who are old enough to do this. This shouldn’t be something scary for them to do. But what phone should they use? Does your home/facility just have a cell phone? If so, where is this phone? Do you leave it in one location or carry it with you? It is best to have a phone on every level or make sure the cell phone is always with you.
Obviously, you can’t know about everything but there are some things you can do to prepare for when this happens. Some of the common things are seizures, asthma attacks and allergic reactions. You already have plans for these emergencies, but do we need to contact EMS every time? This needs to be part of the plan with parents depending on how severe the asthma or allergic reactions are. Seizures can be scary if you have never experienced one before but can be handled with proper training. Seizures can be caused by several different things. Anyone who experiences should be checked out by a medical professional to be sure there are serious medical problems that may have occurred after the seizure.
Reaching out to your local fire department or EMS provider is a good way to get more information and review/develop your plan. Some local fire departments offer special lock boxes that provide access to your home or facility. Your local 911 center may be able to help you with having emergency contact information on file or can keep a door code to enter your home.
This is just a basic overview of how to deal with known or unexpected medical emergencies.
